Letter from the Scottish National Party
Group Leader to the Chairman of the Committee

MINORITY PARTY REPRESENTATION ON SELECT COMMITTEES

The Plaid Cymru/SNP joint group welcome your
own comments on this matter, and we thought that this issue, and
the broader debate, were handled well by you and by the chair
of the Committee of Selection.

Our group is particularly keen to secure a member
on the Treasury Committee, and support moves to extend the size
of this committee to allow an additional minor party. As you know,
there were 12 members on the Treasury Committee during the last
parliament, and we hope that there can be movement on this front
in the autumn, as discussed.

In addition, the joint group would be keen to
have a representative on the European Scrutiny Committeewith
both SNP and Paid Cymru members happy to serve on this committee
throughout the course of this parliament.

On the wider problem, there is an issue of principle
in relation to the Liberal Democrats acting on behalf of the minority
parties in these and other negotiations. It might help remove
the problem if the third largest opposition group/group, SNP/Plaid
Cymru in this parliament, had direct involvement in the discussions,
and were able to represent the minority interest in the House.
We will seek to discuss this matter in some detail with the Ulster
Unionists and other minority parties over the next few months,
but early indications suggest that they are sympathetic to minority
party representation being dealt with in this way.